And The Hair Combing Session
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Caroline's off-handed comment about Max not allowing her to comb her hair planted a plot bunny in my head.  And for those of you that know me, plot bunnies never hop away.  So here it is!


**I had the first part of this written after the last episode aired, and I just now decided to publish it. My first 2 Broke Girls fic. Hope you like! It's kinda hard to write for people we've seen characterized for only a few episodes, but I took a shot. :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. But whoever does had a great idea!**

"Max," Caroline announced, coming out of the bathroom, "I have an idea for a bonding activity that the two of us could do."

Max looked up from the couch. "The last bonding activity I took part in almost got me pregnant," she said. "And while that couldn't happen this time, I'm still not that into it."

Caroline dropped her arms and rolled her eyes, still smiling. How the hell that girl could smile all the time, Max had no idea. "You know what I mean."

"Actually," Max said, "I don't."

"Right. Well, you know I don't mean _that_," she clarified. "Remember when I asked if I could do your hair?"

"I remember shooting down that idea," Max said, picking up an old magazine that she'd found behind the diner and pretending to study it.

"I know you're not really reading that," Caroline said, walking over and turning the magazine right side up.

"Yes I was," Max said stubbornly, turning it back over. "That's how I read. Jealous?"

Caroline's facial expression didn't change. "No." She dropped down on the couch next to her roommate and put her head to the side. "Come on, Max, please?"

"Does that puppy dog face work on Daddy?" Max asked, not looking at Caroline.

"Chestnut!" Caroline called. The horse put his head through the window and looked over at the girls, ears pricked and nostrils flaring. "Should Max let me do her hair like she combs yours?" The horse lowered his head a bit and shook his mane out, knocking a stone off the windowsill.

"See?" Max said, turning a page in the upside down magazine. "He disagrees."

"Okay Chestnut," said the former heiress, "should Max at least let me get all the tangles out of her hair so she can look pretty?" The gelding raised his head and lifted his upper lip, making what Caroline took to be a nodding motion with his head.

"He does that all the time," Max said. "It means nothing."

"Come on, Max!" Caroline said. "It'll be fun."

"For you, maybe."

"If you let me, I won't ask to sleep in your bed for a week."

"I've spent years learning how not to give in to annoying people and you expect me to…" Max trailed off and looked up at Caroline. "Really? A week?" Caroline nodded. "_And_ I get to stop looking at this stupid upside down magazine that's giving me one bitch of a migraine?" She nodded. "Fine. You can do my hair. Once. But no stupid up dos or whatever it is that you rich people pride yourselves on when you do it and then get on the What Were They Thinking list on the red carpet, got it? I'm already on that list for agreeing to let you."

"Do you want to sit on the floor, or have me stand behind the couch?" Caroline asked.

"Wait, _now_?" Max asked. "Well, I guess this is typical for all of my bonding activities. And you're giving me options, so props for that." She shifted her weight on the couch so her head was clear of the back. Caroline grabbed her hairbrush and comb and got up, moving behind the couch and taking a small amount of Max's knotted hair in her hands. "When was the last time you actually brushed this out?"

"Oh, we have to talk while we do this? This is new," Max said. "I run a brush through it now and then. But I don't take notes on when, who does that?"

Caroline worked the comb through the knot and moved on to the next one. "My girlfriends and I used to do each other's hair."

"You didn't have a hair styling machine?" Max said. "I didn't see one at your mansion, but I did spend most of my time in your tub. Oh," she said, trailing off as she remembered it. "I love your tub."

Caroline smiled. "I know." She ran her fingers through the part of Max's hair that was now knot free. "You have really pretty hair," she told the former art major.

"Thanks, I grow it myself," Max said. "And since hair is dead, it kinda fits with my life and career prospects."

"Oh shut up," Caroline said. "Dead is an absolute state. And we're going to make money one day."

"Fine," Max said. "My hair is dead, my career is in a coma."

"Morbid metaphors, but sure, sure," Caroline said, continuing on with Mission: Max's Hair. "But you believe that we're going to do it, right?"

Max was quiet for a long time, sitting with her eyes closed, while Caroline continued the de – knotting process. Caroline didn't ask her again; Max wasn't the kind of girl to get her hopes up, and the blonde girl felt that there was a balance between giving her hope she could hold on to, or giving her too much hope that the brunette recognized as such and blocked from her mind as to not be let down. She knew by now prompting an answer when it came to their futures just caused Max to shut down. But now, Caroline heard only silence for so long she wondered if even mentioning it once had done so. She went to her purse and got out the half bottle of detangler that she'd brought with her and used it for the final bit of Max's hair – it hadn't been as hard as Caroline would have thought it'd be; it just took some time and patience, and cooperation.

Finally, Max spoke. "It might take longer than a year."

Caroline hesitated. "But you think we can do it?"

"Hey, two months ago I never thought I'd live with a horse, be broken up with Robbie, and let some girl brush my hair," Max said. "A cupcake business doesn't seem that crazy by now."


End file.
